The Descent by Paul E Hardisty
Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean.
Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the world on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, now long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing.
#TheDescent @Hardisty_Paul @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of, even thirty years later. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, he knows that it is time to find out for himself.
Determined to learn what really happened during his mother’s escape from the concentration camp to which she and Kweku’s father were banished, and their subsequent journey halfway around the world, Kweku and his young family set out on a perilous voyage across a devastated planet. What they find will challenge not only their faith in humanity, but their ability to stay alive.
My Review
If I thought The Forcing was hard to review in January 3023, then this one is nigh impossible, but I’ll give it my best shot.
The Descent alternates between two timelines – the first one being now ie 2024 which we see from the point of view of a young assistant (we don’t know her name) to the ‘Boss’ (we don’t know his name either initially). If you’ve read The Forcing you might have an inkling. She is around 20 years old and is one of his favourites. She earns a fortune for someone of her age, but what she has to do for the money is not exactly part of the official job description. This part is the ‘prequel’ to The Forcing.
We then jump to the ‘sequel’ ie the 2060s, after The Forcing, and it’s here that we meet Kweku Ashworth, his wife Julie, their young son Leo and the rest of their family. A tragedy means that they have to travel all over the world, first seeking Kweku’s relatives in Africa, to try to find answers to the gaps in his mother’s story. Then they must search for a missing child, but they have no idea where she might be.
The whole world has been devastated by climate change, an African war, nuclear bombings and mass inoculation resulting in sterility and death. This all occurred in the late 2020s, when a group of very rich men including the Boss decided to ignore the climate crisis and make money out of others’ misfortunes. These facts are revealed gradually as Kweku, Julie and Leo travel to Africa, Madagascar, Panama, Grenada and finally to Bora Bora, amongst other places.
When I read The Forcing, I said I thought that ‘villain’ Derek Argent reminded me of Trump but in The Descent we have a president called Bragg and he really is a Trump-alike – bragger by name and by nature. In fact though, he is more a puppet of the rich, who know that keeping him in power will work to their benefit. And his of course.
While I understand that we are not doing enough to prevent a climate catastrophe, I hope that there aren’t people around like the Boss and his mates, ready to let the earth burn while they get richer. However, “The Forcing was certainly a very bleak read, seemingly devoid of hope”, but by the end of The Descent, I could see a glimmer of a future amongst the death and devastation. I hope we never let it get to that point.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Canadian Paul Hardisty has spent twenty-five years working all over the world as an environmental scientist and freelance journalist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a in 1993, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen at the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. In 2022 he criss-crossed Ukraine reporting on the Russian invasion. Paul is a university professor and CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The four novels in his Claymore Straker series, The Abrupt Physics of Dying, The Evolution of Fear, Reconciliation for the Dead and Absolution, all received great critical acclaim and The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and a Telegraph Book of the Year. Paul drew on his own experiences to write Turbulent Wake, an extraordinary departure from his high-octane, thought-provoking thrillers. Paul is a keen outdoorsman, a conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
